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pockethounds · 21 days

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GT Big Bend - Chapter 28: Friends (and more?)

Word count:~1300

Cw: cursing, light angst

Easton pov

I stifled a yawn as I glanced at the time on my phone. It wasn’t terribly late, but I still hadn’t adjusted to the conparitively shorter human nights. I was beginning to think I never would. I heard a familiar buzz at the door - the human door, of course. I raised an eyebrow. John didn’t use the doorbell, plus, he was already here. I couldn’t think of anyone else who would be coming by unannounced.

Maybe Zoey would? I felt my heart skip a beat at that thought, and pushed it from my mind. Might as well put the mystery to rest, I thought, going to the door that was my size and opening it. It only took a fraction of a second to spot the three small figures by the door, and as soon as I did, a wide smile spread across my face.

“Easton! Hi!! It’s been forever!” Larissa called, waving. I knelt down to be relatively closer to them.

“What are you guys doing here? I didn’t think you were arriving until tomorrow?” Not that I minded - it had been years since I had seen Larissa, Kyle, or Ruby in person.

“We wanted to surprise you!” Kyle responded. “So…surprise!”

“The IMA agent you work with - John - helped us plan it,” Ruby added.

If I could have seen my own expression, I was pretty sure it would have been equal parts surprise and excitement.

“Well, it worked. Surprising me, I mean. You guys look great - how have things been? How was the trip?” I realized I was rambling, but getting myself to stop was a harder task.

“The trip was good,” Ruby said. “Uneventful, which I guess is how you want travel.”

“Yeah, no portals to other planets or anything,” Kyle added, referencing how I’d met them back on my home planet after they’d fallen through a portal.

“That’s probably for the best,” I said, laughing softly. “Do you guys want to come in? I’m sure travel was tiring even if it was uneventful - there’s a human sized elevator behind that door that takes you up to my desk, basically, and then there’s walkways too, or I can pick you up. Oh, and any luggage you have, of course!” I glanced over at the duffel bag that sat beside Ruby.

“Well, I kind of want to try the elevator - that sounds pretty cool,” Larissa said. She looked between Kyle and Ruby. Kyle nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that works for me.”

“I’ll go with Easton,” Ruby said. I vaguely recalled her mentioning a fear of elevators at several years prior, and wondered if that played a role in her decision.

“Cool.” I lowered my hand to the ground a few feet in front of Ruby, opening my mouth to begin my normal spiel, then stopped. “I usually do this whole monologue with tourists about staying in the middle of my hand and stuff, but I guess you know the drill.”

“Don’t fall to my death?” Ruby asked. Despite knowing it was a joke, the thought of that still made me cringe.

“Sorry,” she added, picking up on my unease. “Maybe not the best joke.”

“No, it’s fine - just, not a fun thought,” I said with a nervous laugh. Not a fun thought was putting it lightly. I was 100% sure I’d never forgive myself if any human - let alone a close friend - was hurt because of me. Let alone killed. I cleared my throat, trying to get my mind off of that track. “Did you want me to take the bags too?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, we’d appreciate it,” Larissa said.

“Not at all,” I responded. John was waiting on the table near the human walkway when I returned inside. He smiled upon seeing the three humans, Ruby in my hand and Larissa and Kyle stepping out of the elevator.

“Surprise!” He said. He turned to look at the humans. “It’s great to meet you all in person,” he continued, extending a hand to the three humans and introducing himself.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Larissa said. “In person instead of through a screen, anyways.”

John laughed. “Call me old fashioned, but I still prefer it that way. I hope the trip here was nice?”

“It was pretty chill,” Kyle affirmed. “We’ve really been looking forward to getting to see Easton again.”

“And him you, he hasn’t stopped talking about you guys coming to visit,” John said. I gently lowered Ruby to the table as they continued to make small talk. After a few minutes, John glanced up at me.

“Well, I was going to run into town this evening, give you all time to catch up and get settled in,” John said. “Am I right in assuming you’re still ‘camping’ in here?”

The topic of where Ruby, Kyle, and Larissa could stay had been a point of discussion in planning their trip, and it was eventually decided - after Kyle suggested it - that they could just camp on the table near the human walkway. It was a bit unorthodox, but Ruby had pointed out they’d previously spent several months basically living on my nightstand in Aphiria, which was considerably more unorthodox. Plus, there was a human sized bathroom up the walkway, next to John’s apartment, so there weren’t any major logistical reasons it wouldn’t work.

“If it’s still alright with Easton,” Kyle said. I nodded.

“Yeah, of course. It’ll be like old times!”

“The good ol’ days,” Larissa agreed with a laugh. After checking in about that, John wished us a good evening and headed out.

“He seems cool,’ Ruby said, moments after the elevator door closed in front of him.

“He is,” I agreed.

“Okay, so, what’s been going on in your life? How is the park? What’s it like living on earth - being the one that’s the wrong size for a change? How are your coworkers?” Larissa didn’t take a breath as she ran down the list of questions enthusiastically.

“How is he supposed to answer any of the questions if you’re asking them that fast?” Ruby said, chuckling.

“Right. Sorry,” Larissa said. “I just got excited.”

I took a careful seat in the table across from the desk. “The park is gorgeous, it’s really beautiful here. Earth in general. But it’s kind of terrifying being…very much not the right size. Though, probably a different type of terrifying than it would have been for you guys.” That was probably an understatement, given that on my side I had to be concerned about breaking something, while they would have had to be concerned about something - or someone - breaking them. “And my coworkers are generally nice. So are the tourists.”

“I bet you’re the first Aphirial any of them have met,” Kyle said.

“Probably a safe bet,” I said.

“Ooh, how’s that human girl you mentioned hitting it off with? Zoey?” Ruby asked.

“She’s good, I think. She got a job at the gift shop here, so I guess she’s sticking around for a while.”

“Well that’s good news for you,” Larissa said. “So, is she cute?”

“What?” I felt blood rush to my cheeks at that simple question, and tried to hide how flustered it had managed to make me by looking down. That worked poorly, given that the humans were all below me anyways. Larissa laughed.

“You’re blushing - oh my god, do you have a crush on her?” She asked teasingly.

“Of course not,” I said quickly. Way too quickly - god, I was bad at this. Whatever this even was. “She’s a human-”

“What, us humans aren’t good enough for you?” Kyle asked with a short laugh.

“No! No, I didn’t mean it like that, I fully think humans are equal to aphirials-of course-that just came out wrong.” If I’d felt flustered before, it was now a thousand times worse.

“Hm, I dunno, you said that awfully fast,” Kyle teased.

“Cut it out, Kyle,” Larissa. “You know that’s not what he meant.”

“I just meant like - I don’t have a crush on her-” I ignored the look Larissa gave me and continued, “but even if I did, there’d be like…a kind of concerning power imbalance? Like if I did like a human, which I don’t, I wouldn’t want them to feel pressured into anything or something because I’m, well,” I gestured at myself. “Like half the humans I met, actually, probably more like 70% of the humans I meet, are at least a little scared of me already and what if I told a human that I theoretically had a crush on that I did and then they didn’t feel the same way but felt like they couldn’t say that and-and there’s just a lot of potential problems there,” I ended lamely. It went without saying that this was something I had been thinking about a lot, especially recently. For no particular reason, I kept telling myself.

The four of us were silent for a moment.

“...You’ve put a lot of thought into the subject for someone who doesn’t have a crush on a human,” Larissa said finally.

I sighed.

Fuck.

#g/t #someone has a crusshhh #other people stories

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pockethounds · 1 month

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Do you kids wanna redraw of one of my most popular pieces???

Redraw of below:

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pockethounds · 2 months

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pockethounds · 2 months

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the price of being so small, you get to see EVERYTHING up close. a blessing and a curse

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pockethounds · 2 months

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hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

#refrence

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pockethounds · 2 months

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My Borrowed Son | 13 | P.O.V.

Chapter Thirteen | P.O.V

What had he just witnessed?

Was what he saw real? Or part of a dream?

No.

There was no way this was part of a dream. It was real.

Kers decided when the snow began to fall that staying on the ground was far too dangerous, so an elevated position above the roots would be better. The four-inch tall Borrower scaled the side of the tree he was hiding under using his broken paperclips and the little bit of string he had saved.

He had to immigrate because the previous home he was in gave their two young daughters cats for their shared birthday. Two cats. One Borrower. Kers did the math and decided it would be safer to leave, even during the cold winter months, and chance getting into another apartment building a few doors down.

He trudged out into the frigid cold with all of his worldly borrowings on his back and found shelter among the roots of a nearby tree. It wasn’t until the morning that he realized he needed to find a safer place, hence the dangerous climb up the tree.

Each handhold felt as though it would give way at any moment. The slickness of the frosted bark was treacherous. The slightest slip would mean his demise, but it needed to be done.

As he climbed, he couldn’t believe that immense creatures such as squirrels and mice could scurry up these things with such ease.

Part of the terror and danger and thrill of being a Borrower.

The few times he nearly slipped made him tremble and shake, but Kers finally made it to the top where he found a notch in the tree that used to belong to a family of squirrels. He wasn’t sure why it was abandoned, but it was warm and a place he could secure while he waited out the storm.

After a midmorning nap and a quick inventory of his belongings, Kers began preparing his food ration for the day when he heard a voice outside. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and send chills ripping down his spine. The Borrower knew the volume of the voice could only mean one thing – a human was nearby.

And, based on the words she was saying, the human wasn’t alone. He couldn’t hear who she was with, but the words she was using made Kers think she was with a young child.

It was odd.

Usually children were loud and obnoxious, making them easy to identify and run away from. So, why couldn’t he hear the child? Was she even with a child? Maybe the human woman was with a pet. Humans did that – talked to animals as if they could understand.

The thought that humans would treat animals more like humans than his own kind if Borrowers were discovered made Kers squirm uncomfortably. If he were caught, Kers had little doubt in his mind that he would be tossed in a cage to live out the rest of his days. He suspected he would be tricked into talking and, if everything went well for him, would live performing tricks like some pet. If things went poorly, he would be experimented on and exposed to the whole world.

It was a terrifying thought.

Still, his Borrower’s curiosity got the better of him after an hour or so of listening to the woman talking and responding to someone she called “Parker” and he peered out of his hiding place, acorn cap disguise on his head, to see what he could see.

His heart sank into the pit of his stomach when he glanced down and saw a Borrower child far below near the roots of the tree. He was barely visible because Kers was so high up in the tree, but there was no mistaking the frame of the small being.

What is happening?

What is going on?

That’s a child!

Has that human noticed him?

A more terrifying thought seized Kers.

That human… that’s who that human woman has been talking to?! She’s been talking to that kid?!

Kers couldn’t see as well as he wanted from his vantage point, but he could tell that the child didn’t seem anxious and didn’t seem like he was trying to escape or get away. At the moment, the Borrower high in the trees had a more pressing issue – the child had found his camp from the night before as well as his footprints.

Shoot. Shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot! If he looks up or tells that human woman he’s working with, I’m screwed!

Take a breath.

I’m okay.

I’m too high for that human to reach me. She can’t get to me up here. Even if she tries, I’m inside the tree and can climb higher if I need to.

His panic made Kers’ limbs shake as he hurriedly began shoving all of his essentials into his getaway bag. The strap was barely over his shoulder when Kers heard the human woman speak, and it sounded close, and her words made him jump out of his skin.

“Parker? What are you doing in there?”

Kers instantly dropped onto the floor of the old squirrel next and listened as hard as he could. This time, because he was a bit closer, Kers could pick up elements of what the boy was saying – and it made his already chilled blood run cold.

“Momma! Momma! I… I think there’s someone else out here!”

No! No! I’m not here. Why are you working with that human? And did… you just call her momma?

“Someone else? That’s not possible,” said the woman. This was a huge benefit in Kers’ mind, and it was enough to inspire a moment of courage in the disguised Borrower.

Kers didn’t want to look, but he couldn’t bear the thought of simply waiting and seeing looming fingers or, heaven forbid, an eye looking in at him reaching for his frame. He needed to look. Kers crawled to the entrance and, heart pounding a hole through him, dared to look over the ledge down toward the ground.

The human woman was there looming over that small, innocent child! The sight alone made him sick and anxious, but he forced himself to look anyway. From what he could tell, the child didn’t seem nervous in the slightest and spoke loudly and clearly for the human woman to hear.

“It’s true! Look! There are footprints. They look like mine!” urged the Borrower boy.

Kers felt his insides churn. Did the child not know the rules? Did he not understand what he was doing? He was about to root out Kers’ hiding place and not protect his fellow Borrower; and for what? To protect his own family? To protect himself?

Why?

Kers watched the human woman look long and hard at the footprints he had left behind hours and hours ago. The whole time, his prayers revolved around not being discovered. After an agonizing amount of time, the woman responded.

“Parker, I think these might’ve just belonged to a small critter like a mouse or rat. Maybe even a squirrel? I just don’t know who would be out in cold like this.”

Kers couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

The human woman was dissuading the Borrower child from asking further questions? The human woman was trying to convince the Borrower child that no one else was out here? The backwardness of the situation made his head spin. It should have been the other way around.

The child should have hidden the footprints.

The child should be persuading the human woman no one was out here.

“But… momma…” The boy looked around before looking, to Kers, defeated. “Maybe.”

Kers let out a sigh of relief, but it didn’t dissuade his confusion. What was going on? Why were they interacting so freely? Was all of this a ruse? Or was there something more going on here?

He continued listening as the woman continued. “Good. Now, I think we’ve had enough fun in the snow. Let’s get inside and get warm; and maybe, just maybe, you and I can read some of that ‘Eragon’ book together. Would you like that?”

The child sighed and nodded, still looking defeated.

“Yes, momma,” said the child named Parker.

Kers felt every nerve in his body screaming in protest and fear as he watched the small child willingly climb into the human woman’s hands. He wanted to call out to the child. He wanted to tell him to fight and that he’d be rescued soon, but something inside of him kept Kers silent.

There was something in the woman’s voice and in the entire interaction that felt too tender – too genuine – to be fake or forced.

It felt impossible, but was it true?

Did that Borrower child think that human was actually his mom? Did she brainwash him? Trick him into thinking that this was normal?

Or was there something more?

Was this genuine?

Was this human woman actually taking care of this Borrower child, treating him like an equal?

Kers had to know more.

He carefully leaned out of his hiding place and watched the woman and the child disappear into a nearby apartment.

Well… at least I know where my next home is going to be. Kers thought.

~~~^*^*^~~~

The trek was a long one and lasted the next day and partway into the night, but Kers finally made it. The apartment where the human woman and Borrower child vanished into was in sight, and he even had an entrance. With precision and care, Kers shimmied up the frozen drainage pipe and he made his way to the roof, which thankfully had a vent pipe that he could slip down.

Eyes adjusting to the dim light and stomach growling uncomfortably, Kers knew he was now bound by fate to whatever was happening inside of this apartment.

He tiptoed through the beams and shimmied on top of the wires as he found the ceiling fan socket which let him look down into the room. The Borrower crouched low and peered down into what looked like the living area only to see the human woman sitting on the couch with a blanket in her lap, book in her hand, and the small child on her shoulder.

The sight was enough to make his blood run cold.

How could that child just sit there on the human’s shoulder without a care in the world? Kers thought about his own level of bravery as he wondered whether he could manage such a feat with calm nerves. The scene was a fascinating one and it had him completely entranced.

Kers wanted – needed – to learn more.

The miniscule man found himself hours later sitting and watching the pair interact and talk. It was like watching the human family he just left interact with one another, the only difference being size between the child and he woman.

At some point, the two of them made dinner, which smelled tantalizing, before the two of them went off to bed.

Now was his chance.

Now was his time!

Kers stared down at the little box that the boy, Parker, called his “room” and saw every opportunity to go and save the child.

But…

Something stopped him.

For years, Kers was convinced that humans would treat Borrowers as pets. He was convinced that someone like him would be shoved into a cage and belittled until the end of their days.

What he just witnessed, however, was something far different.

It was mutual respect. It was like his own mother speaking to him and his siblings. It was like the tender care he had seen the human family he just left from the parents to their two young daughters.

This human was treating this child like a human.

Kers felt confusion wracking his brain, and the hunger in his gut wasn’t helping. He glanced at his pack, which held everything he possessed, and then looked back down at the sleeping kid in the room far below.

It was the most impossible, difficult decision he needed to make, but here he was making it.

At the moment, Kers knew two things.

One, he didn’t have enough supplies to sustain himself right here and now. He needed to go down to the apartment below and borrow as much as he could to set up a proper home for himself.

Two – which was the most gut-wrenching thing he had to decide – was that the child wasn’t in danger. The human woman didn’t have the boy in a cage and, from what Kers could tell, the boy was being taken care of. There was no fear in his voice when he spoke to the woman he called “momma” and he seemed comfortable interacting and maneuvering around in the human world.

Whatever this kid’s story was, Kers wanted to know it; but he couldn’t do that if he needed to take care of himself. For now, he would be the child’s silent protector from the walls, ready to act and save at a moment’s notice. He could learn about this woman from the walls and, when the time came, Kers would venture down and talk to the boy about who he was and what they were if the kid didn’t know.

With a fateful glance down at the boy, Kers vowed that the child wouldn’t be alone, forgotten and abandoned by his own kind. The Borrower ducked into the darkness toward the kitchen, heaviness in his heart as he hoped he made the right decision.

~~~~~^*^*^*^*^~~~~~

Continue | Coming Soon

Beginning

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pockethounds · 2 months

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♡ Chapter 2: Page 26

Previous Page - Updates Friday, April 19

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pockethounds · 2 months

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Big Bend Chapter Twenty Seven - Aquarium

Word count: ~1300 words

Cw: mentions of giant killing someone in the past, past trauma, cursing

Angie’s POV

I felt like my mind was reeling from Dave’s revelation. I didn’t want to harp on what was clearly a very traumatic event, instead deciding to let him lead. So when he changed the subject, saying we should get going to the aquarium, I didn’t argue. Despite that, though, his account remained in my mind even as we entered the aquarium’s doors, as we bought our tickets, and as we started looking around. I had countless questions I wanted the answer to. Most of which I knew he didn’t even have the answer to, like who that man that was killed was, or who the giant who had killed him was. How the giant had gotten to earth, and where he’d gone after the incident.

All questions he likely wanted to know even more than I did, I thought.

I tried to refocus on the exhibits around us, a plan that was so far miserably failing. Jellyfish were plenty intriguing, but they hardly held a candle to the sheer shock factor of what my coworker had just shared with me.

Dave picked up on my distractedness fairly quickly. “Kind of killed the vibe with that trauma dump, huh?” He said, giving a half hearted laugh. I shook my head quickly.

“No-I mean, yes, but like, I’m glad you shared. I just can’t imagine what that must have been like to see as a kid, I guess.”

Dave gave a small shrug. “Yeah. It still feels surreal to me, honestly.”

“And I’m really surprised you’re working with Easton and us after…that,” I said, the words slipping from my mouth before I could second guess them. Out of the many, many questions I had, that was one of the ones that confused me the most. Sure, Dave’s continued unease around our giant coworker made more sense now, but why he’d take and then keep the job now made even less sense. I’d think the last thing he want to do was work with a giant in the middle of nowhere after seeing a giant kill someone in the middle of nowhere as a child.

“Me too,” Dave admitted. He met my gaze, giving a resigned sigh. “I don’t really know what I was thinking. Or what I am thinking.” He paused. “Have you ever been so afraid of something that it almost becomes some sort of fascinating?”

I considered his question. “Well, I guess I like watching horror movies and true crime for kind of a similar reason?”

“Yeah. So there’s the whole scary but fascinating part, and then I guess I was hoping maybe working woth Easton would help me get over it, but really I think it just made everything more confusing, because he’s so…human? Like, the giant that killed that guy has always just been some shadowy monster in my brain, but Easton’s…nice. Funny. Anxious. Kind of awkward…all these traits that don’t fit with some caricature of a boogey man. God, I don’t even know what I’m trying to say.”

“No, no, I think I get it?” I offered.

“And then I end up feeling bad that I am still so freaked out by him, because sometimes he really just seems like another…person? And then I remember he’s not even from our world, and he’s bigger than some of our buildings, and he could kill me just as easily as that other giant killed that man-and then I just get stuck in this weird limbo of feeling guilty because I don’t really think he’d do something that like, and feeling scared because he could, and not wanting to quit because I don’t want what happened back then to define my while life, but very much wanting to quit because what am I thinking…and, fuck, I’m really rambling.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I said, offering Dave a hopefulym reassuring smile. “I don’t know how I’d even begin to process all of that, but I’m more than happy to listen if that’ll help.”

“Thanks,” Dave said. “I really am sorry for ruining the vibe, though. I mean, there’s some really cool fish here.”

“And we have plenty of time to see them still,” I said. “Really, you don’t need to apologize. I was just trying to process, I guess.”

“You and me both,” Dave said with a dry laugh.

I leaned over to give Dave a half hug after a moment.

“Thanks for trusting me with that,” I said.

We turned to look at the jellyfish in front of us, this silence washing over us this time comfortable instead of awkward. I wasn’t exactly sure how long we stood there, the blue creatures in front of us drifting lazily through the water, tentacles swirling behind them. It wasn’t either of us who eventually broke the silence, but instead a new voice.

“They’re pretty, aren’t they,” the unfamiliar voice mused from behind us. Dave and I both turned at the same time to see who had spoken. The newcomer was a man perhaps a bit older than us - late twenties or early thirties, if I had to guess. I hadn’t seen him enter the dimly lit room that housed the jellyfish exhibit, but then again, I hadn’t been paying much attention to my surroundings during our prior conversation.

“They’re real mesmerizing,” Dave agreed. “It’s kind of amazing that they don’t have a brain…ocean life is weird.”

“All life is weird if you think too hard about it,” the stranger said. “It requires such delicate balance.” He paused. “Have you seen the alligator exhibit upstairs yet?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. We just got here.”

“It’s worth checking out, if only to appreciate how long crocodilians have called this planet home.”

“Oh, that’s right - they’ve existed since like the dinosaurs, haven’t they?”

The stranger nodded. “One of the two remaining archosaurs.”

“You seem like you know a lot about animals,” Dave said.

The stranger shrugged. “I enjoy learning. I’m Lee, by the way.”

Dave extended his hand. “Dave. This is Angie.”

“Pleasure to meet you. Are you two from the area?” Lee asked, shaking Dave’s hand. I was already shaking my head before he’d finished the question.

“Not really. Just here on a weekend trip,” I said. “You?”

“Something similar,” Lee replied. “I was in the area for business.”

“We’re in the area to get away from business,” Dave joked.

“I think we all need to do that every now and then. You two work together, then?”

“Yeah. We’re both park rangers, we had the weekend off and thought we’d come over here,” I replied.

“Park rangers! That sounds like a fun job - I used to work at a park myself. Just as a tour guide, though. Which park are you at?”

“Big Bend,” Dave replied.

“Ah, I think I’ve seen that one in the news a lot recently. Something about hiring a giant?”

“Yeah. An aphirial. His name’s Easton Parks.”

“A fitting name for his job,” Lee said with a laugh. “Park ranger Parks.”

I was a little surprised that was what he’d focused on, given the other bit of information I’d offered. Easton’s name being ironically fitting had occurred to me as well, though, and I gave a small laugh.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“What did you say you did for work?” Dave asked.

“I didn’t, but I’m a freelancer of sorts these days,” Lee replied. “It gives me plenty of time to travel.”

“That must be nice,” I said. “We both stay pretty busy. Still, we’re lucky to have gotten this weekend at least.”

“Beautiful weekend here too, not too hot. It does get pretty hot over by Big Bend, though, doesn’t it?”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Dave said. “Puts Arizona to shame somedays, I swear.”

“I’ve heard the flash floods over there do too,” Lee said. He paused, as if remembering something. “Well, I should get going - I won’t interrupt your weekend any further. I hope you enjoy the rest of the aquarium!”

He didn’t wait for us to respond before leaving the room.

“Huh,” Dave said after a moment. “That was kinda weird.”

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pockethounds · 2 months

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reach out

grab him

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pockethounds · 2 months

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A giant dad taking care of his borrower daughter

A warm up suggestion by @gt-jar ( a giant tucking in a human into bed)

This oc isn't mine

Bee belongs to @basilthebean

Fingers dude ( aka Silas) belongs to me

I really wanna get out of this sketch phase, but it takes me so long to do one sketch. Final products will come out hopefully soon. Send me more requests to help me get back into the rhythm!

#giants taking care of human/borrower children is something that I will always go feral for #g/t art #other peoples art

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pockethounds · 2 months

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pockethounds · 3 months

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Just an idea that wouldn't leave me alone.

I don't think Gorm gets along with other octomers.

Featuring the octomer from this because they were fun to draw. :,)

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pockethounds · 3 months

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My Borrowed Son | 6 | Learning to Play

Chapter Six | Learning to Play

That night, Amanda and Mel went back to the park with the hand-sized boy and searched around the ground in hopes of finding some additional clues as to why he was all alone. Amanda showed Mel where she had found him and, sadly, there was no sign the area had been disturbed or returned to.

It was heart wrenching.

Was no one looking for him?

Amanda and Mel even set him back down by the base of the bench and walked several steps away, but that proved to be a disaster when the little boy chased after Amanda, whimpering and crying. He even charged into the thick blades of grass after her. It must have looked like a menacing jungle forest, but it didn’t seem to matter.

When Amanda approached, he timidly sniffled and held up his arms, as if to say “hold me” as his little fingers grasped at the air.

Amanda feared that the little boy might have seen something happen to one or both of his parents and that he knew Amanda was his only chance. She brought this up to Mel, who silently seemed to agree.

Needless to say, Mel and Amanda returned back to Amanda’s apartment and spent the evening discussing other facets of life. They had a picnic on the boxes and kept the boy between them as they ate and made plans for how to proceed. He had room to roam, but he mostly kept himself curled in Amanda’s hand and looked back and forth between Mel and her while they talked. He absorbed every word and seemed to know they were talking about him.

Specifically, how they were going to come up with an explanation for his existence without revealing him to the world.

“I’m just afraid of what’ll happen if I take him anywhere else to get him checked out or if they want too much proof. If he’s some kind of new species of human or some kind of government experiment that got out, I don’t want him shuffled off to some containment unit to be experimented on,” urged Amanda.

“I get what you’re saying, Mandy. But, that whole delayed birth certificate is going to be tricky,” reminded Mel. “Are you sure you’re up for it?”

Amanda felt the pressure of the little boy climbing back onto her fingers after retrieving another fragment of cracker and knew her answer immediately.

“Yes, I’m sure. If something happens or if I’m questioned, I’ll find the right things to say. Until then, I can’t just leave him,” replied Amanda. She brushed the boy’s shoulder with her thumb, which he leaned into. His thoughtful brown eyes gazed up at her as he gave her a crumb filled smile.

It was the look on the child’s face that said it all.

Mel and Amanda continued to talk well into the night as the infinitesimal boy fell asleep in Amanda’s hand, cracker on his chest and part of a blanket on his torso. Plans were made to meet up and have another check-up with the boy in a few days as well as plan out how they were going to get some documents for the little boy.

“I guess I’ll be seeing a lot more of you then,” grinned Mel. “No more monthly calls. I got promoted to weekly. Maybe even bi-weekly. All right!” They hugged and then Mel headed home for the night while Amanda shut herself in for the night.

The rule usually is never wake a sleeping baby, but the reasoning of making sure he was cleaned up and ready for bed was too much for Amanda to resist. She made sure the boy was tidy and had a little to drink before carrying him to her room where she placed him back into the box on his bed, fingers laying against him, as the two of them drifted off to sleep.

When Amanda woke up, she saw the little boy was curled fully into her hand using her thumb as a pillow. It was mesmerizing seeing the way his light sandy blonde hair fell over his eyes as he slept peacefully. Amanda had slept much better than the night before, which wasn’t much of a challenge, and was thankful the boy was getting some rest.

Not willing to wake him, Amanda carefully proceeded with the events of her day while keeping her hand level and steady. She kept the blanket from the box draped over him as she washed her face, retrieved her morning coffee, and brought her laptop to her room where she continued to type up her reports with just one hand.

Then, just like the day before, he stirred awake. He looked a little less confused than he did the day before, and his smile was the sunshine of the day as he looked up into Amanda’s eyes.

“Good morning,” she said. “Did you sleep so good? Ready to get some breakfast?” He nodded sleepily and pushed himself upright, looking up at Amanda thoughtfully before she stood and brought him to the bathroom.

While he ate on the kitchen counter, taking little bites and looking around while he chewed, Amanda thought about what kind of life he must have been living up until this point. Specifically, she was concerned when she brought up the concept of “play” and he had little to no reaction.

She wasn’t sure whether or not the boy knew how to play, which made her very sad. He was so sweet and deserved to know how to have fun.

In the meantime, she needed to get back to work. She would have time to devise a way to have fun with him during her lunch break and during dinner. She collected the little boy, making sure he wiped up with a wet washcloth, before bringing him back to her room.

The moment Amanda sat down, she knew working and keeping an eye on the child were going to be a challenge. For one, the little boy was gaining some energy back. Barely thirty-six hours after giving him some food and water and the boy was already climbing over the mountain of blankets on Amanda’s bed. Each one must have looked like a massive, fuzzy hill to the boy, but he didn’t seem to care. He climbed, hand over fist, to the top of each mound and rolled back down.

He never went far, but how quickly and how easily he tumbled down the soft, squashy surface of the comforter made Amanda’s heart pound and skip like a flat stone on water.

Then, the boy took to climbing on Amanda, clambering up her leg and then to her arm where he would try to get to her hands. He was gently plucked up and set to the side each time, which made him smile and, at one point, giggle even.

He seemed like he was having a good time, which was what mattered.

Maybe he did know how to play.

It was finally lunch time, and it was obvious the miniscule boy was hungry. When Amanda asked if he wanted to eat, he nodded and made no protest in climbing onto Amanda’s hand.

His ability to adapt is absolutely astounding. Seriously, he’s already showing so much trust. Is it meant to endear me to him? Like a survival technique? Or is it him actually trusting me?

Amanda thought about it from a perspectives point of view, and she shuddered to think of what it would be like to have something – someone – loom over her and be able to pick her up in a single hand.

He truly is remarkable.

Lunch was a very simple hot ham and cheese sandwich, which Amanda had to pinch because she was worried the boy wouldn’t be able to bite through the thick meat. She made a mental note to get the finely sliced meat next time she went to the store.

It was a surprise when he had no issue with it, small teeth obviously durable and able to tear apart meat.

Good to know thought Amanda.

The second half of the day involved Amanda giving the boy some cotton balls to toss around as well as watching him once again play daredevil and climb the new obstacle course Amanda had created out of pillows and blankets. His youth and size had nothing to do with how quick the little boy was as he darted around and climbed over the tall pillows.

The few times he took a tumble down the blankets, his body seemed to move on its own and instinct let him find the best way to slide down without getting hurt. It made Amanda more curious about what he could and could not do, but she would save those questions for another day.

She had something better in mind than pillows and blankets to test his abilities.

Amanda sent her final emails and messages to her co-workers before hoisting herself off of her bed. Dinner was going to be simple tonight and it was a good thing too. Tonight was going to be about play and fun.

Bringing him with her, Amanda set of into the living room and began laying out all of her boxes that needed unpacking in a kind of maze, creating passages and hallways while the boy took a nap in his much smaller box. She also included other elements like things for him to climb and jump off of.

It was having something occupy her mind that made her feel almost back to normal. She remembered fondly how her father would make elaborate constructions of cardboard and bedsheets just so she and her brother and sister could live in tents for months on end. They even made a joke that they wouldn’t need their rooms because they were going to live in tents for the rest of their lives.

Getting to make something like this now really and truly made Amanda feel like she was sharing part of her childhood with the boy. It made her heart ache slightly. She genuinely thought she would be doing this with her own children one of these days, but getting to do it now let her feel like she was glimpsing a reality that might have come to pass.

Perhaps one day, this dream could happen. Perhaps it wasn’t out of reach. Just the thought of it made her choke up, chest tightening uncomfortably as she stared longingly at the door, expecting the man she once loved to come through the door so they could begin again. Her mind raced and began filling in the blanks when she heard a soft coo from the box.

Amanda was brought back to the present as she glanced toward the sound, reminded of reality and saved from the life that could have been.

Clearing her throat and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she knelt and peered into the box where she spotted the child standing, hands pressed against the cardboard as he looked for a way out or up onto the ledge.

“Hey there, sweetheart,” smiled Amanda. He looked around and instantly smiled, holding her hands up and making a little grasping motion with his fingers to he could be held. “Good nap? I know. I know. Come on. Let’s get you out of there. I have a surprise for you.”

She rested her hand in the box and the little boy clambered up onto her curled fingers as though he had done it all of his life.

“We’re going to play maze, okay? Like you were playing earlier with the blankets and pillows,” said Amanda. He looked a bit confused at first, but the mention of the pillows and blankets earlier seemed to connect in his youthful mind. So, when Amanda sat on top of the nearest box and laid her hand down into the columns of boxes, it took a few moments for him to see the mounds of pillows for what they were – a playbox.

He carefully walked off of Amanda’s hand and approached the pillows before climbing on top of them. His fists snagged handfuls of fabric as he climbed to the top and, seeing the sheet slide, tumbled all the way down before looking back at Amanda and smiling.

It was like watching him take his first steps, a happiness sparking in Amanda like nothing she had experienced. The boy scuddled up to the edge of the next box and instinctually peered around it before running to the next bundle of blankets and climbing up them. This next one was taller, and his slide down actually made him laugh as he slid down the taut sheets.

It made Amanda’s face light up as she watched him go from activity to activity.

Another element that fascinated her was how the little boy approached the maze. Despite his age, he took the same left turn until he seemed to recognize an area. Only when he recognized where he was that he would add in a new left or right turn. It was almost like he was memorizing the paths Amanda had laid out for him.

The other activities were a little harder for the young child to get. Rolling the marbles and hitting the others made Amanda realize he was strong, but not quite that strong. Chasing him with her running fingers made him squeal in fear until he realized Amanda wasn’t actually chasing him, and soon it was his second favorite next to tumbling down the sheets.

The two of them played in the box maze for nearly an hour before the boy showed any indication of tiring, and even then he was reluctant to return to Amanda because he wanted to rest in the maze and keep playing once he had recovered.

Amanda’s compromise was to let him stay and play as long as he stayed close to the pillows she left him by while she got dinner started. She hurried over to the kitchen and quickly poured in noodles for macaroni and cheese and set the water to boil before hurrying back to the boxes to see the boy. Like she asked, he hadn’t moved from the stack of pillows and was waiting patiently for her to come back just as she said she would.

It wasn’t until the two of them made eye-contact, however, that made Amanda question her action. The boy looked worried, his little chest rising and falling quickly as he looked up at Amanda, before melting into relief. His hands immediately lifted, and he made the familiar grabbing motion for her to pick him up.

Amanda’s mouth slackened as a horrid thought occurred.

Was that what his parents told him? Did they ask him to stay… and he obeyed? Only to be abandoned and left alone?

“Come here, sweetie,” smiled Amanda. “See? I’m back, just like I said I would be.” After a minute, Amanda realized he didn’t want to be left alone, no matter how fun the boxes were, and elected to stay with her. It made her feel guilty and was something Amanda wanted to work on to give him a secure attachment, but it was alright for now.

The rest of the evening went smoothly as they fixed dinner together and ate in relative silence. Amanda decided she needed to wear something with a front pocket so she could place the little boy there while she worked on baking and cooking. The two of them cleaned up in the bathroom, Amanda needing to coax the boy into the water once again, before tucking him into bed all snuggly and clean.

She drifted to sleep with her hand in the box and the feeling of the boy pressed against her fingers. Today was the first of many steps for the two of them. Tomorrow, she would investigate the playground again and keep doing so until she was satisfied no one was truly coming for him.

The thought, however, made her heart hurt. He was growing on her so quickly, but it would be the right thing to do. Even if she, only after a couple of days, was already so attached to the little guy.

~~~~~^*^*^*^*^~~~~~

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#other people stories #I love this sm #you’re such a talented writer!

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